The Blood of the Moon

Awake

Now.

“What in the hell was that dream about.”

Aine woke up again with the same dream that sometimes comes in segments and sometimes it’s like a movie. She has been having the same dream ever since her 21st birthday. Her friend Danica had told her that her birthday had happened on a rare black moon which she just laughed off. She doesn’t believe in astrology so for her any phase of the moon is just a moon. She did want to check though why she has been having these dreams every two years and a few months. Danica informed her that a black moon happens every 32 months so that makes it two years and six months.

She shook off the coincidence and decided to take a cold shower to clear her head. She had to prepare for an event proposition for a client who only prefers to meet in the evening. Although her office had strict working hours which is only until 5pm because they have no weekends off, they had to make an exemption for this VIP. He was willing to pay them premium just for evening meetings and he gave them two extravagant events to plan in just four months which would take a lot of their team members to execute.

“I can do this, I can make this happen” Aine mumbled as she took her time in the shower.

“Is it really her? Her smell is so different, it’s intoxicating.” Albert had whispered to his master.

Cirino looked at her picture and closed his eyes. He was sure of it, thousands of years of waiting. Being resurrected over and over again, forced to relive the past and the pain. Only now he has never felt the warmth of the sun on his face. But all these will be over, only if he can get her as soon as possible. But their moves have to be calculated, the wolves are also waiting. The curse will end soon, and they can be day walkers again.

“I have grown tired of this waiting; I have always been resurrected and nothing has come out of it. I have to get her and bite her when I can. End this curse and live without fear of the sun,”

Cirino had sighed while sitting in his limo. His coven had survived for thousands of years, building and growing casinos and drug cartels all over the world. No one questioned why he only came out at night; casinos nor drugs didn’t need a specific time of the day and at night no one knows what happens to the patrons or customers when they disappeared. His coven survived on this while making billions from gamblers and addicts.

“We have to be careful master. If you bite her before the blood moon, this curse will not end. It is what the elders had said when the moon goddess..”

“Hush!” Cirino had cut off Albert. He wasn’t interested in reliving what had happened thousands of years. Frankly, he didn’t care if the moon goddess still watched his every move. He and his coven were forced out of Helene Kingdom- his home and he had been waiting so long to get his revenge. He needed this woman to finish the curse and he had waited thousands of years to make that happen.

He knew she was near; her smell was indescribable. It was sweet as honey, lavender and vanilla all at once. It was intoxicating to fae folks and he had to control his need to bite her so that his coven will not want her. They felt what he felt and if he cannot control his need, he will cause them to lose control.

He stepped out of the car and followed her, even ten feet away from her – he is having a hard time keeping his fangs in. Four months before the blood moon, he is thinking to himself.

Four months of torture for myself and the curse will be over.

Aine looked at her phone to check the name of the restaurant inside the casino’s premises.

Sangre A Alguien. What a weird name for restaurant, Aine thought to herself.

Cirino can hear her thoughts and chuckled, truth be told he couldn’t be bothered with the names of his establishment, but he wanted an in your face restaurant just for the heck of it. He is a vampire after all, this was a place where he can have all the blood he and his coven wanted and not be questioned for it.

The place was booked for an event, as stated at the door. Aine was calling her contact on how to get in, when the doors opened for her and a gorgeous receptionist came out to greet her.

“Ms Aine, I’m Carla. Please come in, we have set up the area for you and Mr Cirino.”

That’s odd. Aine thought to herself, it was like some automatic thing that the door would just open just as she was calling Mr Albert, the secretary of Mr Cirino.

“Kindly sit here, Ms Aine. Mr Cirino is on his way. What would you like to eat or drink? It is on the house.” Carla had done this for her master so many times, but he had told her to treat this human girl as special as possible.  She smelled so sweet and made her mouth water. She wanted to take just a little bite. Her master never told her she was off limits anyway. While Aine was looking at the menu, she started to walk closer to her, inhaling the sweet scent until a booming voice had erupted in her head. “I told you to treat her as special as possible, not to feed on her while I am away” Cirino had shouted in Carla’s head. The pain was excruciating, and he made her walk away from Aine.

“Albert, take care of that b***h” Cirino had telepathically communicated with Albert

“Yes master” Albert took Carla inside the kitchen space and snapped her neck

“Hello Ms Aine. I’m Cirino and I’m glad you can make it. I apologize that I had your schedules accommodate mine but I am available at night because of my casino business” Cirino had extended his hand to Aine to go with his introduction.

Her face was still the same, albeit younger and now she has long brown hair tied in a high ponytail. Her skin was so fair and her cheeks even with minimal makeup, rosy just like roses that were about to bloom. Her lips were full and looked poutier with the red lipstick she was wearing. Her eyes were blue, it was like drowning in the ocean when you look at it for a long time.

“Thank you for meeting me, Mr Cirino, I have the proposition ready for your event if you would approve it as soon as possible so I can already book the suppliers for you.” Aine had interrupted his thoughts and for good measure, he can already feel his fangs slowly coming out. This is going to be harder to control, he thought to himself.

“Just Cirino is fine. No need for formalities. I’m sure everything that you have planned will be perfect, book the suppliers and let Albert know how much he needs to deposit, or I can write the check right now for two million as a downpayment for the first event. Anyway, I’d like to get to know you- the person who will be handling my events in four months. Consider all your proposals approved.” He looked at her eyes and mouth open wide and quickly composed herself.

“I’d still like to go over the themes and design for your approval, everything needs to be signed.”

Aine’s mind was racing. This is an amazing opportunity to be able to show the client how she’ll give them the best event of the year.

“Give me the papers I need to sign; money is not a problem. There is no required budget for any of these events, book and spend as you see fit Ms Aine.” Cirino opened his hands to receive the papers while Albert had stepped by his side to prepare the check.

Aine found Albert efficient for being able to provide everything that’s needed by Mr Cirino and within two minutes, papers were approved and signed and she was given a check with two million dollars.

“Enough business, tell me about yourself” Cirino told Aine while she was putting away the contracts and check. “You don’t have to worry about anything, I have this restaurant closed for us. I want to get to know you, Aine.” He looked at Aine as if he was about to eat her, he felt her fear and he wanted to take it away. “Please don’t be scared, I love to get to know about the people around me and that includes the person who will be handling two of my biggest events. I sincerely apologize if I have overwhelmed you, but it has been a long time since I had talked to someone so casually.”

This is true for Cirino. He never talked more than a few words to anyone but Albert. He closed himself for a thousand years and he found Aine so easy to talk to, just like her.

The love of his life, Amaris.